ZStudy

ZStudy is solving lack of access to physical schools due to distance and lack of quality STEM education, unequal access to quality education, unavailability of STEM teaching materials such as Arduino, Raspberry Pi, computers, simulation software, maker labs, and inequality in education access for rural learners, especially the girl child, and special groups like LGBTQ, particularly in low-income communities. The challenge we are working to solve is the persistent gender disparity in education, which has been a longstanding issue globally. According to UNESCO, 132 million girls worldwide are out of school, and 16 million girls of primary school age will never enter a classroom in sub-Saharan African countries. Moreover, even when girls do attend school, they often face challenges such as inadequate facilities that attend to their needs, especially with menstrual health issues. Currently, most schools in the world, especially in developing nations, do not have facilities that support girls and female learners during their menstrual period days so that they can catch up with the lessons they missed. Studies have shown that, on average, girls miss around 10–20% of school days per year due to menstrual-related issues. This translates to approximately 2-4 days per month, or 24-48 days per year. It is important to note that this estimate may vary widely depending on individual circumstances, and many girls may not miss any school days at all due to menstruation facilities in the developed world, but in rural communities in Zambia, the situation is worse.

Additionally, in many communities, girls are at a higher risk of abduction, sexual abuse, and rape when attending extra lessons in the evenings, when covering long distances from school, and sometimes by teachers. The special groups usually drop out of school due to fear of being arrested and inhuman treatment if they express themselves, as their fellow learners excommunicate them in study spaces. This puts them at a disadvantage compared to their non-specialist group friends, who do not face the same risks and inhuman treatment. The unequal distribution of education quality in schools means that girls from low-income families often do not receive the same quality of education as their wealthier peers. This perpetuates the cycle of poverty and inequality, as education is one of the most effective tools for social and economic transformation.

Non-flexible learning methodologies, expensive tuition, and a rigid society adapted to new norms and rights further limit the opportunities for these groups to receive a quality education. The lack of labs in many schools also hampers the development of practical skills necessary for pursuing STEM careers. As a result, many girls are discouraged from pursuing careers in STEM fields, which exacerbates the gender gap in STEM professions.

The scale of the problem in the communities we are working in is significant. In sub-Saharan Africa, 52 million girls are excluded from school, and 92% never complete secondary education. Barriers to Education in Zambia; Only 27% of girls in Zambia complete upper secondary school, and among the poorest children, this falls to 3%. 

A class meets under a tree in Mwalubemba village, Zambia

ZStudy is a platform that provides girls with access to quality education through a combination of online and offline learning. By leveraging technology, we can overcome some of the challenges that girls face in accessing education, such as the risk of abduction and rape when attending extra lessons in the evenings. Our platform offers flexible learning methodologies that allow girls to learn at their own pace and on their own schedule from within there homes.

 This approach also helps to address the issue of expensive tuition, as online learning is often more affordable than traditional classroom-based education. Through our unique AI-powered, interactive, and video-based learning platform, ZStudy ensures girls from the most disadvantaged backgrounds have the support they need to attend and complete primary and secondary education, with ZStudy we have ensured that we also support girls in low income communities through ZStudy centers where they meet within their local homes or community centers to access learning materials on common device like a Raspberry Pi on which they can learn. 

we also designed the Raspberry Pi into a computer on which we install our Web based ZStudy app which is  usable by kids to learn with ZStudy, our solution is using different approaches to ensure education is accessible to all.

Additionally, our platform offers STEM boot camps and virtual labs, which provide girls with practical skills necessary for pursuing STEM careers. This helps to address the gender gap in STEM professions and ensures that girls have access to the same opportunities as their male peers. Moreover, the ZStudy platform will offer access to experienced educators who will provide mentorship and guidance to girls, which will help them build their confidence and motivation to pursue their education.

The lack of access to quality education for girls is a significant challenge that has persisted globally for decades. The factors contributing to this problem are complex and multifaceted, ranging from cultural biases to economic constraints. The below image shows us displaying our services for STEM awareness and education through digital access.

FILE: Exhibiting ZStudy STEM kits at the national STEM awareness conference

The ZStudy is for learners in rural and urban communities in Zambia and southern Africa, especially girls in low-income communities and special groups of learners such as LGBTQ.

ZStudy is designed to be flexible, affordable, and scalable, addressing the challenges that girls face in accessing education in rural and low income communities, such as the risk of menstrual health challenges, abduction, and rape.

The platform offers a variety of learning materials, including videos, interactive lessons, and virtual labs. The platform also offers flexible learning methodologies that allow girls to learn at their own pace and on their own schedule, which helps address the issue of expensive tuition.

The ZStudy solution will equip girls with practical skills necessary for pursuing STEM careers. The STEM boot camps provide girls with hands-on experience in coding, robotics, and other STEM fields. This will, in the long run, help to address the gender gap in STEM professions and ensure that girls have access to the same opportunities as their male peers. Girls can access the platform's learning materials and receive mentorship from experienced educators. The platform uses an AI that helps learners study by answering difficult questions based on their interests and learning progress.

ZStudy's solution is designed to be affordable and accessible to girls in low-income communities, as it is a social entrepreneurship project. The platform is accessible on any device with an internet connection, including smartphones, tablets, and computers. ZStudy also provides offline access through school centers with computers where it can be configured to run offline, and learners can access it through the local computers while we regularly update the content.

The impact we have seen so far in our testing and pilot phases is the huge interest and awareness of STEM and back-to-school enrollment among females. We also anticipate an increased primary and secondary school completion rate for girls and the LGBTQ community, as they can learn using ZStudy in their privacy while we wait for the communities to be sensitized on these issues. The long-term impact is in our object: to see the 3% girls' secondary school completion rate increase to 100% and create the platform that allows everyone to have access to an affordable learning platform with access to quality STEM education and education in general.

ZStudy was founded by a team of passionate individuals who understand the challenges learners in rural areas, especially girls and other special groups in low-income communities, face when it comes to accessing quality education. Our team leader, who comes from a low-income community, has personal experience with the challenges that girls face in accessing education: "None of my sisters has gone beyond eighth grade, this is because of the long distance to access schools " he said. He has seen firsthand the impact of lack of access to quality education can have on girls' lives, including limited opportunities and lower life outcomes. As a result, he is deeply committed to addressing this issue and ensuring that girls have access to the education they need to reach their full potential. He started school in 2000, on the outskirts of Mpongwe district of the Copperbelt Province in Zambia, Africa. His first days in school were under a tree, covering 17 km on foot daily to school and another 17 km going back home. For the most part, he missed classes because he couldn't keep up with the distance. Radio learning helped him improve his learning experience, but even that was just based on radio audio, which was not effective but was what was available. All the girls he started school with, including his sisters and cousins, never made it to junior high school. It was this radio initiative that helped him a lot, and he has held to the idea since then of making education more accessible, digitized, and decentralized from a traditional brick-and-mortar school. Now that society's norms have changed and people openly express themselves as who they are, the limitations of such special groups are an added burden to the already difficult challenges girls go through.

As a team, we are engaged in ongoing efforts to understand the needs of the communities we serve. We work closely with locals to identify girls and special groups, as well as marginalized communities, who would benefit from our platform and to understand their specific needs and challenges. We also conduct extensive research and engage in dialogue with experts in the field to stay up-to-date on best practices and emerging trends in education.

Our team is well-positioned to deliver this solution due to our personal experiences and backgrounds. Our commitment to advancing girls' education and our personal experiences are deeply rooted in the communities we serve, and we have taken steps to ensure that our platform is accessible, user-friendly, and inclusive. We are committed to addressing the specific needs and challenges of girls in low-income communities and making a meaningful impact on their lives.

Our team is youthful and made up of engineers, marketers, economists, and educators.

We are applying to Solve because we believe that our solution aligns with Solve's mission of identifying and supporting innovative solutions to global challenges such as access to education. As a platform that aims to improve access to quality education for girls in low-income communities, we believe that we can make a significant impact on one of the world's most pressing challenges: gender inequality.

There are several barriers that we face as we seek to scale our solution and reach more girls in low-income communities. One of the biggest challenges is financial, as we need resources to develop and expand our platform. We hope that Solve can connect us with partners who can provide financial support to help us grow our platform and reach more girls in need.

In addition to financial support, we also hope that Solve can help us overcome technical barriers. As a technology-based solution, we need to ensure that our platform is reliable, secure, and scalable. We hope that Solve can connect us with technical experts who can provide guidance on how to improve our platform and ensure that it meets the highest standards for performance and security.

Another challenge that we face is cultural barriers. In some communities, there may be resistance to girls' education and education for learners who identify with the LGBTQ community. We need to work to overcome these cultural barriers in order to reach more learners, especially the LGBTQ learners, as they are not safe to openly identify as so, in most African communities. We hope that Solve can connect us with partners who have experience working in such communities and can provide guidance on how to navigate such cultural barriers.

Finally, we believe that Solve can help us overcome market barriers by connecting us with potential partners and investors who can help us expand our reach and impact. We believe that there is a significant market for our platform, as there is a growing demand for innovative solutions that improve access to education for girls in low-income communities.

Overall, we are excited about the opportunity to participate in Solve and believe that it can provide us with the resources, connections, and support we need to scale our solution and make a meaningful impact on the lives of girls in low-income communities. We are committed to working collaboratively with Solve and its partners to overcome the barriers that we face and to advance our mission of improving access to quality education for girls around the world.

ZStudy is innovative as it digitizes the education process, allowing a learner to access quality education from top educators on their mobile phone or computer. This makes the learning experience flexible, learner-tailored, and resourceful. ZStudy's innovative approach to education allows learners from rural and low-income communities to have access to the same quality education as anyone else in the world. ZStudy also supports the education journey for learners in special groups, as they can also learn in their own space and time.

Physical classroom-based learning has long been ineffective, especially in developing nations, as the learning is teacher-centered and not learner-centered. This is due to a lack of resources in the classroom, and sometimes these classrooms are very congested, and as such, the learners do not have access to the teacher because the teacher-learner ratio is too high, which naturally forces a one-size-fits-all approach. As we know, learners grasp information in different ways and at different paces and times of the day. This is where ZStudy as an innovative solution comes in: with our clear visual illustrations of lesson topics, we increase understanding, performance, and interaction through artificial intelligence (AI) revision tools, interactive learning, and the ability to replay the video lessons. This gives a learner more time to understand what the educator is communicating, as the digital lesson can be replayed multiple times as per the learner's demand from anywhere at anytime.

ZStudy has a STEM component in which we sensitize, teach, and build STEM materials such as STEM kits. We also develop and reuse popular STEM virtual interactive lessons and labs that allow a learner to visualize scientific concepts. Our solution won the 2022 Genius most innovative  STEM award in Zambia. ZStudy is the first to develop a STEM kit in Zambia, and we have given it to 57 schools countrywide.

File: STEM kit by ZStudy.

In the next year, the ZStudy platform should have user traction of more than 100,000 learners with complete subject lessons and tertiary and skills courses. broadening the learner base from pupils who are in school to women in the back-to-school program. with more focus on the education of girls and special groups and STEM education improvement to propel further development in the country and encourage female participation in STEM careers. we plan on expanding our reach to Malawi and Zimbabwe by end next year.

Foreseen impacts for the next five years will include scaling the ZStudy user base to more than 2,000,000 users, capturing about 70% of the country's pupil and student base, and increasing the girl-child school completion rate in rural areas to 30% from the current 3%. The goal will be met through a B2G partnership of schools, tuition centers, universities, and skill training institutes countrywide for their learners to access the ZStudy platform, in turn creating new models and increasing the user base. During the first 3 years, we plan on starting rural education outreach by using a model of rural education centers stationed at chiefdoms, churches, and cooperative centers. These centers will be used for the provision of resources such as learning digital tablets, computer centers for digital literacy, general education, STEM education, and cyber awareness. These centers will have one ZStudy tutor to interact with learners and onboard them on how to use our platform on the computers, STEM kits, and other resources at these centers. Hence, the project's long-term outcome is to change the behavior of governments, learners, and communities to adapt to new technology that enhances the quality of education, especially STEM focused on girls' support to take up STEM careers in their adult lives.

After 5 years, we will focus on expanding to Malawi, Uganda, Namibia, and Zimbabwe, as these countries share a very similar learning style and curriculum.

Our impact goals are to:

1. Increase the number of women returning to school;

With our pilot ZStudy, we have more than 400 women between 29 and 35 years old using ZStudy to prepare for their primary school Grade 7 exams this year; some are retaking their high school exam called GCE so they can pass and proceed to college. However, we have noticed that many youths are also using the app to try and retake their exams, especially women who work as shop attendants. We encourage them to share the idea and the app with their peers to ensure many start using it. This is progress we are happy about, as we expect this number to increase with time, which will see an increase in women returning to school and becoming more literate.

increase in the percentage of women who enroll in and complete educational programs (such as secondary school or vocational training) over a specified period of time in 3 years.

2. encourage girl-child participation in STEM subjects.

- Increase in the percentage of female students enrolled in and completing STEM courses over a specified period of time.

-increase in the availability of resources and support systems aimed at encouraging girl-child participation in STEM subjects, such as mentorship programs or after-school STEM clubs.

-increase in the number of girls who participate in extracurricular activities or other programs aimed at supporting their education in the target communities over a specified period of time, specially STEM related activities such as Mathematics club, maker labs, Olympiads competition and JETS( junior engineer technicians and science).

-We have worked on an exciting STEM kit that teaches coding, robotics, electronics, telecommunications, AI, and IoT. This kit has won an award as the most innovative STEM solution in Zambia, and we have given 57 of them to schools in Zambia. Our app also has a course teaching Arduino programming as a STEM learning resource. We have organized STEM boot camps, trained and sensitized many on STEM, and gone into girl's schools to sensitize on STEM. We have a partnership program with the National Science and Technology Council to go install ZStudy and our STEM kits in all rural schools with computers starting the first week of June 2023.

4. increase the girl-child school completion rate in rural and low-income communities.

-increase in the percentage of girls who complete primary school in the target communities over a specified period of 2 years.

-increase in the number of girls who transition from primary to secondary school in the target communities over a specified period of 2 years.

- reduction in the gender gap in school completion rates between boys and girls in the target communities over a specified period of time.

5. Sensitize governments to the importance of access to quality, equitable, STEM-focused education.

Currently, we are working with the government agency to install STEM kits in all government schools with computers, and we are also working on a STEM solution that is solar powered for rural areas, and the government is really interested in seeing this installed in rural schools.

increase in government funding for and/or policies supporting STEM education over a specified period of time (5 years).

ZStudy is a learning platform in Zambia that aims to support women in returning to school, assist girls in keeping up with their education despite menstrual health issues and cultural and social-economic challenges, implement STEM education by providing custom STEM kits based on learners' needs, and support the LGBTQ communities in keeping up with education despite living in communities where they are not recognized. This will see a change in the way locals interact with LGBTQ communities as they slowly adapt and share ZStudy resources. In the long run, they will accept them as humans.It will improve the girl-child school completion rate in rural and low-income communities from the current 3% to 70%. It will reduce inequality across genders as women go back to school. They will learn, become literate, and be able to contribute to social and economic development in our communities, as lack of education or limited access to education is a major contributing factor to gender inequality. According to UNESCO, Sub-Saharan Africa has the highest gender parity index for primary education, but the gender gap widens at the secondary and tertiary levels. In many African countries, girls are less likely to attend school than boys, limiting their opportunities for higher-paying jobs.

1: Identifying Learner Needs

ZStudy will begin by conducting a comprehensive assessment of learners' needs, particularly women and girls, to understand their learning challenges and gaps. By conducting this assessment, ZStudy will gain a deeper understanding of the challenges that learners face and how best to support them.

 2: Providing Support to Women Returning to School
ZStudy will provide support to women returning to school by offering flexible learning options that cater to their unique needs. By offering flexible learning, ZStudy aims to remove barriers to education, such as childcare responsibilities, work commitments, and other factors that prevent women from returning to school. ZStudy will also provide mentorship and counseling to women, helping them build their confidence and overcome any challenges that may arise.

3: Supporting Girls with Menstrual Health Issues
ZStudy recognizes that menstrual health issues are a significant barrier to girls' education. Therefore, the platform will provide menstrual health education and support to girls, including the provision of sanitary pads and other necessary supplies. This support will help girls manage their menstrual health and stay in school, leading to improved educational outcomes.

4: Implementing STEM Education
ZStudy will implement STEM education by providing custom STEM kits based on learners' needs. The kits will be designed to be engaging and practical, making STEM education more accessible. ZStudy will also provide training to teachers to ensure they can effectively deliver STEM education to learners.

Outcomes:

increased enrollment of women in back-to-school programs

Improved educational outcomes for women and girls
increased awareness and understanding of menstrual health issues among girls and how schools should recognize that and implement facilities that support girls.
Increased engagement and interest in STEM education
Increased access to quality STEM education for learners

ZStudy aims to contribute to improving education outcomes in Zambia. Through its interventions, ZStudy hopes to empower women and girls, ensuring they have the skills and knowledge they need to build a better future for themselves and their communities.

ZStudy as a solution uses cloud computing, mobile app and web app, Google in-app push notifications, AI, and electronics.

• Cloud Computing: The platform is hosted on a cloud-based infrastructure that provides scalable and reliable computing resources. This enables the platform to handle a large number of users and content without experiencing downtime or performance issues.
• Mobile Technology: Given the low internet penetration rate in Zambia, the platform has a mobile app version that can be used by learners who have limited access to internet services. The mobile app is designed to work in low-bandwidth environments and allows learners to access educational resources.
• Web app: The ZStudy web app can be used by teachers and learners. Teachers use it to upload content and to teach; learners use it to learn. It is more advanced than the web app, as it has more features than the mobile app. 
• AI: we retrained GPT-3.5 to feed it with information about Zambian syllabus and we retrained it on 1.2 million past exam paper questions just ensure its more accurate to answer these questions and we keep retraining it especially on local languages specific to Zambia that are not known widely.
• Google in app push notification: sometimes we deliver information especially notification and announcements via this technology to our users
• Electronics: our STEM kit is an electronic kit that helps in teaching robotics, and coding as well as IoT and automation and how to build smart homes. we also use 3D-printing technology in our teaching and building of some of components we need for the STEM kit.

Our organization recognizes that diversity, equity, and inclusion are not only ethical imperatives but also critical components of our business success. With a career background in promoting social and gender equity, we are committed to creating a workplace where everyone feels valued, respected, and included.

We believe in embracing diversity and accommodating individuals from different backgrounds, including those with varying sexual orientations. Our research shows that a diverse workforce outperforms less diverse competitors regarding revenue, profits, and employee satisfaction.

At our company, we have fostered a culture of inclusion that genuinely welcomes all individuals, celebrating their unique identities and encouraging everyone to thrive and succeed in the workplace.

In addition, our team accommodates different career paths for both males and females, we believe that both genders can have shared roles and responsibilities to showcase their various skills. We, therefore, strive to support and promote diversity, equity, and inclusion in all areas of our operations, including career development opportunities. we don't look at individuals by any standard but the ability to deliver work that is what matters, our Team leader has a funny saying "We don't hire manners because they don't deliver ", all that this short sentence means is that judging people by certain standards does not make work move, we employ someone who can deliver work and make the team prosper the rest is theirs and anything classified as yours is your right.

ZStudy Business Model

As an organization, we have implemented a variety of channels to ensure our long-term financial sustainability. One of our key revenue streams is our subscription-based application, which provides clients with access to a wide range of educational materials and lessons on our platform in exchange for a subscription fee.

In addition to this, we also design and build personalized STEM kits for schools and universities, as well as sell individual STEM kits and our ZStudy E-Books to the general public. Our company also provides comprehensive training programs for individuals interested in building STEM kits and expanding their knowledge.

Lastly, we also train teachers on how to effectively incorporate STEM kits into their classes and private schools pay for these trainings. This diversification of revenue streams not only allows us to provide exceptional services and products to our clients but also helps us achieve our long-term financial goals as an organization.

ZStudy has not received any funding from any organization before, ZStudy has designed a STEM kit that they have sold to private schools, We also host training trainers seminars for Teachers from private schools to teach them how to use computers in schools and how to incorporate STEM in schools. we have sold 120 STEM kits to private schools and we also have users who use ZStudy on a subscription basis as we indicated it's a hybrid for-profit and non-profit. We have medical lecturers who also teach medical courses on ZStudy which also brings in revenue as these targeted users can pay.

We have schools that have installed ZStudy in their labs and they pay towards ZStudy a fixed yearly fee.

Moreover, the fact that ZStudy has signed a memorandum of understanding with the government and a local university to foster research in STEM is a positive sign that the platform is building important partnerships and gaining recognition in the STEM and education community. Additionally,, ZStudy has been handed over a STEM center named "Little Rock Academy " for office and physical training such as boot camps is also a significant development that could help the platform expand its offerings and reach even more people and generate income through holiday STEM camps. for all the people we have are all paid by ZStudy without any grant, that shows financial resilience, sustainability and prudence on a team that is able to operate on a very small budget.